ROME – The plane, just landed from New York, while approaching the northern satellite of Terminal 1 of Milan Malpensa airport, hit an EasyJet plane preparing for its flight to Tel Aviv.
Yesterday April 4th two planes collided in the airport of Milan Malpensa, a few minutes after 7:00 am, but it has been enough to stop all airport activities in the proximity of Terminal 1.
The Incident…
The plane, a Delta Airlines Airbus A330 operating the New York – Milan route, minutes after the landing in the Milanese hub, hit an EasyJet Airbus A321Neo with the extremity of its left wing.
The EasyJet plane was preparing to fly to Tel Aviv, but in connection with the damage suffered, it has been decided by the airline that it would remain on the ground.
The flight of the Delta plane back to New York, which in the first place seemed to be ready for departure in complete safety, has been grounded by the airline’s decision to carry out a deeper examination of the plane’s status and damage, and the passengers were sent back today.
The only part of the EasyJet plane being injured has been the right winglet, so no major damage was expected to have been occurred to the orange plane.
The airline, however, has disembarked passengers waiting to take off to Tel Aviv and disposed of an alternative plane coming from Zurich.
The contact would have been caused by aircraft placement difficulties and not enough space between the gates allocated to the Delta plane from the traffic control of the Milan airport.
Why is Milan Malpensa airport suffering interruption and difficulties in traffic management?
Currently, the airport is operating all its flights from Terminal 1 since Terminal 2 is going under radical restructuring, and it’s entirely unavailable for passengers.
According to the airport trade unions “The situation in the airport is paradoxical, flights are day by day increasing and big financial investments are being placed by airlines, but the airport is operating flights with just 40% of its capabilities.”
“Airport staff and airlines employees are being forced to operate in serious and hazardous working conditions as a result of the airport’s decreased capacity”.
Milan Malpensa is, in conclusion, going through a difficult period that has to be overcome with the maximum levels of safety and efficiency if it wants to keep itself a convenient option for airlines and investments.
